Return to Front Page
Big games in Atlanta, LA top the schedule
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The slew of non-conference games on the 2008 football schedule comes to an end over the next two weekends as teams move into the meat of their conference schedules.
Two of those non-conference games this weekend however, Classic games in fact, will determine just how the teams involved will move into league play.
Down in Atlanta Saturday (3 p.m.), perhaps the hottest team so far and at least the
one that has garnered the most national attention, undefeated (4-0) BCSP No. 3
Tennessee State tries for its fourth straight win over
black college competition when it battles
once-beaten Florida A&M (3-1) at the
Georgia Dome. The 20th annual Atlanta
Classic will be televised live on VERSUS network.
While out in Los Angeles, resurgent and unbeaten BCSP No. 4 Prairie View (3-0) looks to end the non-SWAC part of its schedule without a blemish as it battles once-beaten Morehouse (3-1) at the Coliseum in the second annual Angel City Classic (2:30 PT).
Both games should draw big crowds and will be watched with much interest.
In last year's Atlanta Classic, 56,990 fans watched FAMU pull out a last-second 18-17 win over TSU. The attendance was the third largest for a 2007 black college game. The Angel City Classic last year drew 39,583 fans for its inaugural event that saw Prairie View down North Carolina A&T, 22-7. The LA crowd was the 13th largest last season. With promotions and publicity for both games at a high this year, expect those numbers to rise.
With three impressive wins over SWAC teams (Alabama A&M, Southern and Jackson State) and last week's decisive win over defending Ohio Valley Conference champ Eastern Kentucky (34-20), TSU has burst onto the national scene, moving from 25th to 23rd in the latest Sports Network FCS Top 25 and receiving one first-place vote. They are now one of the favorites for the OVC title along with 21st-ranked Eastern Illinois.
But they'll be facing no slouch in the now Joe Taylor-coached Rattlers, whose only loss this season was a 35-28 overtime decision at defending MEAC champ Delaware State. FAMU flexed its offensive (and defensive) muscle Saturday with a 51-24 shellacking over Howard serving notice that it is now a force to be reckoned with in the MEAC. The battle with TSU will be a good test.
On paper the teams seem evenly matched with each boasting a high-scoring offense
and stingy, opportunistic defenses.
TSU averages 35.8 points per game and is led by quarterback Antonio Heffner who garnered FCS national player of the year honors this week for his 20-of-28, 312-yard 2-touchdown performance vs. EKU. FAMU, scoring at a 36.3 ppg. clip, is featuring a two-headed monster at quarterback in incumbent starter Eddie Battle and talented recent Kentucky transfer Curtis Pulley.
Both teams also feature dynamic running backs in TSU's Javarris Williams and FAMU's Phillip Sylvester.
Williams, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher and defending OVC offensive player of the year, has run for 291 yards (72.8 ypg.) and five TDs thru four games. Williams ran 17 times for 117 yards including a 48-yard TD run vs. EKU.
Sylvester, who earned MEAC rookie of the year honors last season after rushing for 858 yards and 7 TDs as a freshman, is averaging 55 yards per game but had his best outing Saturday against Howard totalling 132 yards on 14 carries with an 11-yard TD run.
Defensively, TSU is giving up 20.8 points per game while FAMU is surrendering 26.3. The Rattlers had four takeaways vs. Howard returning both an interception and a fumble for touchdowns.
The Prairie View (3-0, 1-0) vs. Morehouse match-up in La La land is just as intriguing. The once moribund Prairie View program is now the talk of the SWAC. Not only are the Panthers the only undefeated team in the conference, everyone else has at least two losses. That will likely give confidence to a squad looking for its first SWAC title since 1964.
After posting its first winning season in
30 years (7-4) and its most wins since '64, head coach
Henry Frazier's squad returned 19 starters confident that they now had the talent
and experience to challenge for a league title.
A win vs. Morehouse would send the team into its SWAC schedule with a boatload of
confidence. A date with SWAC division rival Grambling
State, the only team that Panthers have not defeated in Frazier's four years at the
helm, looms next week (Oct. 4) in Dallas.
The Panthers have been led by QB Mark Spivey who's helping them put up a black college and FCS best 45.3 points per game, albeit against less than stellar competition (Mississippi Valley State, Texas Southern and Texas College). Spivey has completed 62.7% of his passes while throwing for five TDs. Tailback Ronald Babers has scored five TDs and is currently second in the SWAC averaging 69.7 rushing yards per game.
The defense, which returned ten starters including SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, Zach East, also tops in black colleges and FCS in scoring defense giving up just 9.7 points per game.
Morehouse is one of two Atlanta schools chasing perennial SIAC powers Tuskegee and Albany State in that conference. The Maroon Tigers dropped a close decision to open the season at Benedict (7-3) but have come back to post wins over Fort Valley State (38-35), Lane (28-24) and Miles (27-7). The Tigers could use a win over Prairie View to build their confidence as they head into showdowns with the powers in two of the next three weeks following a bye week.
The Tigers will likely have their hands full scoring or keeping the Panthers out of the end zone.
Elsewhere, BCSP No. 1 Tuskegee (3-0, 3-0) travels to Fort Valley State (1-1, 1-3) for a 1 p.m. contest and BCSP No. 6 Albany State (3-0, 2-0) returns to action after a bye week playing (6 p.m.) at Benedict (2-2, 1-1).
In two 6 p.m CIAA contests, early conference leaders Fayetteville State (3-1, 1-0 West) and Virginia State (2-2, 1-0 East) meet in Petersburg, Va., (6 p.m.). Fellow East leader Virginia Union (3-1, 1-0) plays at Chowan (1-3, 0-1).
BCSP No. 2 Delaware State (1-1, 1-0) hosts Central Connecticut State.
A key MEAC match-up pits BCSP No. 7 Norfolk State (2-2, 1-0) on the road (4 p.m.) at Bethune-Cookman (2-1, 0-1).
This game matches B-CU head coach Alvin Wyatt against his former defensive coordinator, NSU head coach Pete Adrian and has involved as much ferocity and perhaps animosity as any on the schedule. Last year NSU snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Wildcats scoring in the final minute to pull out a 38-31 win.
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.